I havent encountered this issue as of late. But I only have HL Ep1 and Ep 2. But i always have a problem with my skin once I first enter the game. I always start as the default skin female 1. Then I go to the options and apply skin man6 i think it is. Then I got to kill my self for it to apply even after a map changes. So if I dont kill my self is stay as the female 1 skin. And the same thing happens every time I start up Synergy. And so the error repeats its self >: (